ENG-1981 — Page 287

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RECREATION AND THE ARTS

During the year a new sub-office, with space for more than 3 700 linear metres of records, was opened at Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen. It is also equipped with a specially air-conditioned film repository with storage for 64 200 rolls of microfilm and some 1.1 million aperture cards. This repository has been designed to provide centralised storage for film produced by various government departments.

Recent additions to the office includes a file of the newspaper, Friend of China and Hong Kong Gazette, 1842-1859; three engravings published by the Admiralty in 1847 (together they form an all-round view of the environs of Victoria Harbour from its centre); and a letter book and other personal papers of Alexander Robert Johnston, an acting administra- tor of Hong Kong in 1841.

Access to the library's newspaper, map and photograph collections is unrestricted, but formal approval is required for access to the official archives.

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Housed in the high block of the City Hall, the Hong Kong Museum of Art presented 11 exhibitions in 1981. These featured Chinese and contemporary local art, as well as art from Britain and Bangladesh. The Contemporary Art Biennial Exhibition, which was highligh- ted by the presentation of the Urban Council Fine Arts Awards to the best painter, sculptor, print-maker, calligrapher and others was well received by budding artists in Hong Kong. Co-sponsors of these exhibitions included the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, the British Council and the Ministry of Sports and Culture of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

During the year, 230 800 people visited the exhibitions an average of 749 a day. The museum also organised guided tours for school groups and special lectures on selected art subjects delivered by local experts and overseas scholars. Small travelling exhibitions were held at various Urban Council public libraries. Other than the regular monthy film shows, a special film programme on Modern Art and Artists was presented in a series of 10 shows to reveal the essence of modern art and the achievements of the world's leading modern artists. Significant items acquired by the museum in 1981 include a bronze gu and a ceremonial vessel of the late Shang period (11th century BC), a blue-and-white winecup of the Chenghua period (1465–1487) of the Ming Dynasty, a painting by Qi Baishi (1863–1957), three paintings by Xu Beihong (1895-1953), several collections of Chinese paintings and calligraphy by leading Guangdong masters, and a modelled stoneware bell of the Warring States period (475–221 BC).

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Hong Kong Museum of History

During the past six years, the Museum of History in Kowloon has been the venue for 25 specially mounted thematic exhibitions, in addition to its permanent displays on the history of Hong Kong and Hong Kong's traditional fishing industry.

Topics chosen for the special exhibitions were wide-ranging and included such diverse themes as archaeology in Guangdong, folk beliefs retold in traditional woodblock prints, Hong Kong and Macau, and the currency of Guangdong.

From 1977, the museum took part in the annual Festival of Asian Arts by mounting exhibitions drawn from museum collections overseas. These included an exhibition on the traditional crafts of Malaysia in 1981. In all, some 400 000 people had visited the museum in Star House by the end of the year.

One of the most successful exhibitions in 1981 was the Hong Kong Album, a display of old photographs drawn from the museum's growing collections and other sources which